The Number You're Not Supposed to Have

That's
the new Internet home of WikiLeaks, which has been bouncing around
the Web this week as the U.S. government and other nations pressure
various servers not to host the controversial site.

Originally
available at wikileaks.org, an American provider of Internet domain
names — EveryDNS.net — withdrew its service to WikiLeaks
Thursday. The provider stated it was experiencing multiple attacks by
hackers that threatened its entire system.

It's
been documented that various governments are trying to knock
WikiLeaks off the Internet and block access after it posted nearly
251,000 diplomatic messages last week from U.S. embassies that were
surreptitiously obtained.

The
messages included one about China launching cyber-attacks against
Google due to an access dispute.

After
WikiLeaks was kicked off Amazon.com's cloud service, it moved to a
French firm, and was accessible at http://wikileaks.ch.
But the Reuters News Service reported today that the French
government was researching methods to keep companies in that nation
from hosting the site. Access through that address has been sporadic.

Now
various mirror addresses — including wikileaks.de,
wikileaks.fl and wikileaks.nl. — take users to the new site
accessible via only an IP address.

This
week's Porkopolis column looks at WikiLeaks' various document dumps
during the past year, and how they've embarrassed governments around
the world.

Julian
Assange, WikiLeaks' Australian founder, has been in hiding in recent
weeks, although he's granted some interviews via Internet hookups and
other methods. He was thought to be in the United Kingdom last week, and now
might have moved to Germany.

Assange's
supporters say the U.S. and other governments are waging a smear
campaign against him, trying to harm his credibility and deflect
attention from the Web site's revelations.

Last
summer Swedish authorities started an investigation against Assange
based on complaints alleging he raped one woman and sexually harassed
another. Within 24 hours, prosecutors withdrew their arrest warrant,
stating the accusations lacked substance.

This
week Swedish authorities renewed the arrest warrant. Assange's lawyer
says his client is wanted for questioning about allegations
he didn't use condoms during consensual sex with two Swedish women.

The
lawyer, James D. Caitlin, said in a published report Thursday that
“the Swedes are making it up as they go along,” adding the
Swedish justice system will become “the laughingstock of the world”
due to the charges.

On
the Crikey
Web site, Caitlin wrote, “Apparently having consensual sex in
Sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a
minimum of two years for rape.”

In
his article, Caitlin named the two women, nothing they boasted about
their sexual conquests online after they occurred.

Meanwhile,
although the WikiLeaks revelations continue only to get minimum
coverage and soundbites in the U.S. (and blocked altogether in
China), European media outlets have aggressively covered the
material.

British
articles detailing the revelations can be found here, here, here and here.

WikiLeaks' next target is a major U.S. bank, according to Assange, which is
believed to be the Bank of America. Reportedly, he has a large cache
of internal documents that will expose the greed and scheming of bank
executives.

In
coming months, WikiLeaks will focus on the private sector, Assange
said, including the financial, pharmaceutical and energy sectors.